


promises

by watchmyback



Series: narusaku week [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 07:50:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2420885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchmyback/pseuds/watchmyback
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"it was rare that she and naruto were so gentle with one another; they often spoke in a language of shoves and pokes and punches” // (sakura's pov of naruto's battle with orochimaru)</p>
            </blockquote>





	promises

She did not see what the others saw.  Where they saw claws, she saw his dirty fingernails flailing in the air as he tumbled down a tree.  She did not know the two separate circular voids on his face.  What she knew was a flash of his clear blue eyes filling with the tears he tried to hide from her.  The fiery burning fur was the blonde of his knotted hair just as she raised her hand to save his dream.  As the roars drowned out the sound of the rushing river, she heard a faint,  _“I promise that on my life, Sakura.”_  

They saw a monster, and she saw Naruto.  

She cried.  Life had been so unfair to him in virtually every respect.  Life had taken so much already, and yet life had still taken Sasuke.  As a result, it had only given him half of her heart, and it had torn his in two as well.  

But when the two of them were together, at least the two halves could become whole.   _“We’ll do it together,”_  she had told him.  And yet she was untouched while he burned.  

Naruto had always been better at keeping his promises.  She cursed herself for that, feeling the old familiar feeling of helplessness creep up into her bones.  She saw Sasuke walking towards the gates out of town.  She saw Naruto lying in the hospital bed the next day.  She felt the phantom of the still and quiet the next couple days held.

They had been the darkest days of her life.

Of course, as soon as Naruto had woken up, they’d been that much more bearable.  Her tears hit the dirt with a dull finality, and she finally ran towards him, her path blurred.

“Sakura come back!  You have to stay away from him!” Yamato was yelling after her, but she barely heard.  She couldn’t stand by while he left to save the day.  Not again.  If there was anything, anything at all for her to do and then she would do it.  Before she knew it, Sakura heard her own words ringing through the air as she desperately screamed herself hoarse over the din.

“Naruto! Naruto, stop, it’s okay, I can rescue Sasuke!  I’m begging you to stop this right now! Please, Naruto, please stop…”  

Self preservation was so far out of her mind that she may have run all the way to him and wrapped her arms around him, had she not stumbled.  As she finally glanced up, the sight of him frightened her for all the wrong reasons.  

He was hurting himself so badly for them.  And as she went flying backwards from the attack, she couldn’t help but feel small as she fell through the air.  She hadn’t taken pain away, she’d just made more.  As Tsunade-sama’s apprentice, as a medic, as a kunoichi, she should’ve been able to do more.  But that wasn’t what really bothered her.

As “Sakura-chan,” she should’ve been able to take away his pain.

…

“Aaah!” The worlds shifted before her open eyes as she felt herself falling through the air.  In a flurry of fabric and motion, someone caught her back before it hit the ground.

“Woah, kami, Sakura-chan!  You’re a wild sleeper, you know that?  You almost knocked me out earlier…” Naruto’s eyes suddenly narrowed suspiciously.  “...unless you were just actually awake.”

“Baka,” she whispered tiredly, trying fend off the tears still in her eyes.  She turned away, giving him a half-hearted sleepy shove as he set her back down on her couch.  “I’m sorry I fell asleep, I forgot you were stopping by.”  Her voices sounded weak, and she hoped Naruto would write it off as the effect of sleep.

“Don’t worry about it, I just watched TV,” Naruto said cheerfully, doing just that as he gestured towards her television.  The chatter was barely perceptible; he must not have wanted to wake her up.

A lone tear broke through her careful guard, and instantly Naruto’s smile dropped away.

“What’s wrong?” His face was as close to hers as it could possibly be without touching her, and she watched his hand twitch just barely, as if he wanted to reach out.  It caused her to cry that much harder.

“Bad dream,” she choked out through tears, giving up and wrapping her arms around him.  He instantly leaned into her, pulling her closer.  It was rare that she and Naruto were so gentle with one another; they often spoke in a language of shoves and pokes and punches.  But he was consoling in a way she knew no one else could provide for her.  Naruto was sunny days of training and bad ramen and home.  She fiddled with the collar of his jacket, not willing to look at his eyes and risk more tears. 

It was only when she felt the ghost of a kiss on her forehead that she finally met his gaze.  He was a wild combination of determination and nervousness.  When he gripped the edge of her shirt tighter, she knew he was forcing himself not to move.  

She could cry over Naruto leaving, but Naruto was not gone.  Naruto was home.  Sakura leaned back on to his shoulder, but not before brushing her lips against his cheek.  


End file.
